Calm Breeze
by Alta-Lemur
Summary: Link’s made a decision in this time of peace and Sheik tries to stop him. Dark, mentions of suicide.


Title: Calm Breeze

Author: Alta Lemur

Warning: Angst, Dark, mention of Suicide, slight Zelda Bash.

Pairing: Only if you squint.

Beta: None.

Zelda Series: Post Ocarina of Time

Disclaimers: I don't own Zelda, and I'm not profiting from this.

Summary: Link's made a decision in this time of peace and Sheik tries to stop him.

A night breeze rustled his tunic. The updraft's coolness contrasted with the warm air around Death Mountain. Link sighed in relief. Looking up he could see the sky very clearly tonight. Closing his eyes, he breathed in a fresh wind. He hadn't felt this tranquil in a long time.

Enjoying the night that seemed to reflect the sudden calmness of his soul, Link stood in front of the Death Mountain chasm for a long time. The night's stillness was broken by the soft sound of someone landing behind him. Link didn't bother turning.

"Hero," Sheik said after a pause, "what are you doing here?" To Link, the adult sheikah sounded guarded.

Link didn't have the patience to put up with the mysterious sheikah right now. He sighed in irritation. "How did you know I was here?" He looked to Kakariko village, only a few lights twinkling. Link had purposefully not taken a route where anyone could see him.

"Did I not teach you the warp songs, Hero? You think I can't tell when you use them?" Sheik's voice still sounded cautious as he approached the Hero of Time.

"Sheik," The warning in Link's voice stopped the sheikah in his tracks. "Do you have any idea why people commit suicide?" Link was rewarded with a gasp. So Sheik wasn't always as omniscient as he acted.

"Link…"

For once in the last seven years Sheik's voice carried emotion. For once, it wasn't something Link wanted to hear. He looked again into the star-dappled sky. He breathed in the serenity of the night and reclaimed his own calmness before continuing.

"Religion has nothing to do with it. It's not like they know they're going to heaven, or spending eternity with the Goddesses." Link paused, shifting his view to the great chasm below him. Even at noon, the bottom was unseen, unlike the other great drops in the kingdom. Its depths were unexplored. "They commit suicide because anything, even a great, black unknown, is better than what they've lived through."

"Link, please. Step away from the edge. We'll talk." Sheik's voice neared frantic. At another time Link might have been humored by their switched roles, him calm and Sheik emotional. But he didn't want to deal with any of this anymore.

Staying in place, Link glanced over his shoulder at Sheik. One hand was tentatively stretched toward Link as Sheik was about to take another step toward him. The look in Link's eyes stopped him, and his hand fell down to his side. But the look in Sheik's eyes remained pleading.

"Please, just tell me."

Link scoffed and turned back to the chasm. "It's nothing you don't already know. Nothing I know you can't understand." Link suddenly gulped, losing his composure. Damn Sheik. "Isn't that what Zelda did before she made you my personal shadow for the last few of years? Told you what happened in the past, present, whatever? Well?!"

Sheik watched Link's back in the dim starlight. He measured his words with forced calmness. "Yes. The Princess spoke of how you saved Hyrule from great evil, and how we were all spared of that same evil."

"Zelda's full of it." Link enjoyed the scandalous choke from Sheik. Link laughed derisively. "I didn't save Hyrule. I liberated hell from a demon. And I traveled every wretched inch of Ganondorf's kingdom doing it.

"Then the Princess, in all her Wisdom and Guilt reversed the damage. Made sure Ganondorf stayed locked up. Made sure all the lives were restored." Link clenched his fist in memory, yelling the next to the depths. "Made sure she and I were the only ones who remembered! Damn it!"

Instinct spun Link around in time to hit the arm that was prepared to grab him. The follow-through sent Sheik stumbling backwards. Link stared him down until he knew the sheikah wouldn't get up again. Then he turned back to the ledge.

"You don't remember…" Link stopped that thought before it went anywhere. He breathed slowly, looking into the night sky and remembering what lead up to his trip here.

"I thought about it before, while I was trying to stop Ganondorf. I thought about ending it a lot of ways. I couldn't. This time, though, it was different. I thought about jumping over this ledge, and I was suddenly real calm." Link took in a deep breath. "I'm calmer than I've been my entire life knowing how I'll end it.

"Seven years, and we know Ganondorf's not escaping. Hyrule's security is assured. The Hero of Time's not needed. I can rest." At the last word Link sighed with relief.

"You prideful ass!" Sheik cried out. The sudden pain in the sheikah's voice stiffened Link's spine. He remained staring straight ahead.

"You've been hiding this for years?" Sheik's voice cracked with emotion. "Did it ever occur to you to confide in Zelda? Or me? Couldn't you talk to me?"

Link tightened his fist, the leather on his gauntlets creaking. He refused to turn around and see the crying sheikah. "As if you'd understand. You don't remember any of it. None of it happened to you!"

"That doesn't mean I don't care about you now," Sheik replied softly.

"NO!" Link screamed. "You're not even my Sheik. Sheik died! You can't remember anything I went through, we went through. You don't know me, and you don't know what you're saying!"

Only Sheik's sobs answered him. Link's scream of pain echoed in the chasm. With an loud thud, Link's knees hit the stone ground. Link's sobs joined Sheik's.

Still sniffling, Sheik crawled towards Link. From behind Link heard rocks scraping before arms wrapped around his middle. Sheik clung to him. The warmth from his body and wetness of tears soaked through his unshielded back.

Link could still feel small physical jolts of Sheik's sobs keeping his own company. As the weary hero relaxed, still so close to the edge, Sheik tightened his grip around his middle. Sheik leaned them both back, holding their weight with folded legs. Link breathed through his tears. Eventually they both stopped crying, but stayed longer. From his new position against Sheik, Link could see the stars with newly baptized eyes.

The End

Notes: The timeline be damned, because I think Miyamoto was high or something while figuring out the timeline. Anyways, in this story's timeline Link goes back in OoT, grows up again, but Ganon is sealed in the sacred realm.

Also of note, if Link's choice to jump, and then his choice not to jump, did not make sense to you, obviously I did not write this fanfic for you.


End file.
